Our Making Carers Count project aims to help under-represented Carers across Northamptonshire to access the support they need to live their lives.
Northamptonshire Carers are transitioning into an organisation that actively supports Global Ethnic Majority (GEM) Carers. We are achieving this by listening to our GEM Carers and embedding the changes through the vision and values of the organisation. We are not shy to discuss the complexities of inclusivity and will continue to listen to the voices of our Community, Staff and Carers to make change happen.
Making Carers Count is a new type of project. It is not uncommon to find organisations begin initiatives but often once the funding has ended so does the initiative. Making Carers Count aims to have an enduring legacy of progressive anti-racist, anti-discriminatory thinking by supporting and training staff to embed inclusivity in everything they do. Today, tomorrow and always.
We have a rolling program of recruitment. Northamptonshire Carers is under-represented by those from our diverse communities. We value and encourage those from these communities to bring their skills, knowledge and lived experience to a career with us.
Making Carers Count cannot do it alone. We understand the importance to improve the way in which we work and are actively linking with local organisations within our GEM communities so we can work together to support those in need. The Covid pandemic has highlighted health inequalities particularly for our Black and Asian communities. For example, Making Carers Count is working closely with the ICAN service (Integrated Care Across Northamptonshire) to develop the pathway to our Dementia Hubs to ensure inclusivity for all of our community. The ICAN service now hold a Hub at the Sikh Community Centre in Northampton. We would like to hear from all communities and we can come to you.
Making Carers Count is currently identifying an unmet need for support from our GEM Carers and are proactively taking steps to engage with our reconnected Carers to discuss and listen to their needs.
In 2022 Northamptonshire Carers were the first organisation in the county to receive Race Equality Matters, Bronze Trailblazer status for our work to address race-inequality. We have been busy rolling out staff workshops in the organisation where staff are encouraged to make their Big Promise commitments to be pro-actively anti-racist. This is an organisation-wide approach to remove prejudice and unconscious bias within our organisation. You can read more about that further down the page, alongside the MyNameIs campaign.
We are listening. Please get in touch. We would like to hear your ideas, suggestions or if you can spare a few hours come and volunteer with the Making Carers Count project to help make a difference to our communities.